


when all the days felt black and white

by blackandblue13



Series: some jatp one-shots bc i'm emo [4]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: 1990s, Established Relationship, M/M, Pre-Canon, reggie is smart af fuck you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:07:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28993410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackandblue13/pseuds/blackandblue13
Summary: “I met with my guidance counselor this morning,” Reggie confesses, fidgeting with his hands.Oh.“She wants me to drop our music class.”Oh.~or: high school sucks. that's it that's the fic.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Luke Patterson/Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms)
Series: some jatp one-shots bc i'm emo [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1969249
Comments: 4
Kudos: 130





	when all the days felt black and white

**Author's Note:**

> oops this has been sitting in my drafts for a month lmao. 
> 
> contrary to popular (google) belief, i am Not attending high school in california in this glorious year of 1994 
> 
> title from "now or never"

**September 1994.**

“Reg?”

“Hmm?” 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing,” he mumbles unconvincingly into Luke's pillow. 

It’s the start of their junior year of high school, and once again, Emily has been on the boys’ cases (especially Luke) about prioritizing their education. Which means Luke convinces her that his boyfriends’ constant presence in the Patterson household is merely because of their study dates. 

Which isn’t _technically_ a lie. They do study. They also cuddle. Sometimes it’s a mix of both. But they’re only productive because Alex and Reggie actually care about their grades. 

Alex is doing his homework. Luke’s textbooks are on the floor — they act as a stand for his songbook, but at least they’re not in his backpack anymore, which has to count for _something_. And Reggie, who always manages to finish his work first, is attempting to take a nap. He only pokes his head up to help Alex with the occasional question about calculus. 

Luke wouldn’t have been _as_ annoyed with Reggie changing positions every two minutes if his bed didn’t creak and interrupt the unfinished melody in his head. 

“Reg,” Luke repeats, pushing his guitar off his lap to join the other boys on the bed. “You’ve been like this all day. Talk to us.” 

Alex abandons his homework, too — he hands papers and a notebook to Luke, who drops them on the ground unceremoniously — then lays down to meet Reggie’s eye level. He groans and turns over, only to be met by Luke mirroring Alex and sandwiching him in. 

Reggie resorts to laying flat on his back. “It’s nothing, guys, I swear.” 

“Well, if it’s nothing, then you can just tell us, right?” Alex tests out a pout — it’s more subtle than Luke’s signature work, but somehow, it’s just as effective? — and Reggie gives in. 

“I met with my guidance counselor this morning,” he confesses, fidgeting with his hands. 

Oh. 

Luke has rarely talked to his guidance counselor. Their meetings are so infrequent that he doesn’t even remember her name. He _does_ recall seeing her face in the room each time he’s gotten in trouble, usually accompanied by Bobby, for defending Alex or Reggie or any kid being picked on by someone twice their size. Her career plan “talks” were always an echo of his mom’s lectures, like they were a tag team trying to convince him against the music business. 

The way Reggie says it doesn’t sit right with him, though. 

“She wants me to drop our music class.” 

_Oh._

“But you said no, right?” Luke’s question hangs in the air as Reggie goes quiet. “Right?” 

“I told her I’d consider it” comes out as a whisper, muffled by Reggie covering his face with his hands. 

“Reg—” 

Alex cuts him off. “Did she say why she wants you to drop it?” 

Reggie hesitates, looking between the two boys before answering. “You guys know how crazy my class schedule has been?” 

They both nod. Reggie had told them that the more homework he gets, the more excuses he has to avoid his parents. But it also meant a packed schedule, no electives, with the exception of music, and a combination of an early bird class and cutting out a lunch period for a semester (which was his worst idea, and they made him promise to always have some kind of break in the day). It meant studying between songwriting, homework backstage, and somehow managing to be in the top of their class (which he didn’t even _tell_ the guys about. They found out when the class ranks were released!). 

“Well, basically, I’ll have all my credits to graduate early at the end of this school year—” 

“That’s great, Reg—” 

“— _if_ I drop music and double up on English classes. And the only class with an empty spot is the same period as music.” 

“Oh.” Luke’s face falls and he hopes Reggie doesn’t notice. 

They lay for a few minutes, unspeaking, until Alex breaks the silence. “Do you have to decide now?” 

Reggie shrugs. “I have a week.” 

More silence. 

“What makes you think this would be a bad idea?” Alex asks. 

“I’d lose you guys,” he answers like the consequence is obvious. Like it's inevitable. 

Luke takes one of Reggie’s hands, kissing the knuckles with a promise. “You can’t get rid of us that easily.” 

Alex props himself up on an elbow, reaching for Reggie’s other hand. “Take us out of the equation. What’s stopping you?” 

“But—” 

“Just humor me, Reg.” Alex drops a reassuring kiss on Reggie’s chest. 

Reggie smiles at the gentle action and considers the question, looking at their intertwined hands, the two of them, then up at the ceiling. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?” Alex repeats. 

“I could spend senior year — or, like, what _would_ be senior year — working and saving up money for an apartment instead of crashing at the studio,” he says with a laugh. “I could stop stressing about homework and my parents, and I’d learn how to make pizza.” He sits up, hands still laced together. “You guys could move in with me! I mean, after you graduate, and only if you want to. You don’t have to, I just— I like the idea.” He looks at them expectantly, shifting to sit cross-legged while awaiting their responses. 

Alex grabs Luke’s hand and squeezes, which Reggie takes as a cue to continue rambling. “I mean, I don’t even think I want to, you know? I’d barely get to see you guys this year, and then even _less_ next year if you guys were at school all day without me, and I get stupid when I’m lonely, and— it was a bad idea anyway. I shouldn’t have even brought it up. I’ll just talk to my counselor tomorrow—” 

“I think you should do it.” Luke speaks first, resting his chin on Reggie’s knee.

The following _Really?_ comes in unison from Reggie and Alex. Their joint reaction isn’t surprising. Luke would bethe last person to ever suggest having _less_ music in one’s life. 

“Yeah, you, um…” Luke starts, but he doesn’t know how to say it. Reggie visibly relaxed at the thought of being away from his parents, like the tension drained out of his face. He sounded happy, like they could _all_ be happy, at the prospect of living together, with the brightest smile that mainly appears onstage when Luke thinks he’s trying to outshine the lights. 

Instead, he says _I love you_ and hopes that’s enough. It is. Reggie pulls him up for a kiss, and he _totally_ doesn’t almost fall off the bed until Alex anchors him with an arm around his waist. Thankfully, Alex doesn’t get distracted and almost drop Luke when Reggie kisses him, too. 

“So, what’s next?” Alex asks, shifting to sit up. 

“Well, first, I tell my counselor,” Reggie explains, stroking his chin with his hand, as if to give off an aura of pseudo-intellect, until Luke grabs it and kisses his knuckles again. “Then I’m supposed to take some placement tests that you guys will do in, like, April? Then the SAT. Or is it the ACT?” He looks to Alex for confirmation, although they’re wearing the same confused expression. “I switch my classes and take a bunch of tests and then I graduate. Done.” 

Then, as Reggie leans into Alex’s shoulder: “Are you sure you guys are okay with this?” 

That warrants Luke to sit up and grab Reggie by the face, now with the courage and the ability to say what’s really on his mind. “Dude, you sounded so _happy_ talking about living away from your parents, like you could finally be free.” 

“We want you to do what’s best for you, Reg,” Alex adds, always better at putting things eloquently. “Of course we’re okay with it, but you don’t need our approval — or anyone else's, for that matter.” 

Reggie moves forward to kiss Luke, then Alex, and then pull them both into a tight but unsteady hug that ends with them toppling backward onto Luke’s pillows. “I love you guys,” he says between pressing kisses to their cheeks. 

“We love you, too, Reg,” Luke echoes, curling into Reggie’s side and finding Alex’s hand over Reggie’s waist. 

* * *

**May 1995.**

Reggie graduates — along with Bobby — and he’s a bouncing ball of nerves and joy through the ceremony until his name is called. His boyfriends whistle from the audience and he blows them kisses after shaking hands with the principal and finally getting his diploma. 

They have their own celebration at the studio, hastily decorated in the short hour when Reggie and Bobby weren’t there, and officially mark the start of what they think will be Sunset Curve’s best summer yet.

**Author's Note:**

> this wasn’t meant to be a three-years-late sorta-vent fic but i almost graduated at the end of my junior year (but i decided to do the easiest senior year with my one required english (also gym bc state law), music theory, two choir periods, and two study halls) (but it’s _my_ reggie fic so that means _i_ get to project onto _my_ comfort character)


End file.
